


pack

by moonsixes



Category: ONEUS (Band)
Genre: Insecurity, Multi, OT6, Pre-Relationship, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:08:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26588662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonsixes/pseuds/moonsixes
Summary: "We have something to tell you," Keonhee says, and launches into an explanation that sounds very well put together, except it's wasted on Dongju — he mostly stops listening after he hears the wordswe'reandwerewolvesput together, and just stares open-mouthed at the two of them. Once Keonhee has stopped talking nonsense, he waits expectantly for Dongju to say something. The silence lasts so long that Youngjo starts fidgeting, until eventually Dongju speaks."Hyung," he says slowly. "Are you fucking serious?"Dongju finds out that the rest of ONEUS are werewolves. He learns how to cope with this realisation and all the implications that come with it.
Relationships: Kim Geonhak | Leedo/Kim Youngjo | Ravn/Lee Keonhee/Lee Seoho/Son Dongju | Xion/Yeo Hwanwoong
Comments: 10
Kudos: 95
Collections: WEUS Harvest Moon Fest





	pack

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Harvest Moon WeUs Fest; my prompt was for a human member of the group finding out that the rest are supernatural creatures.

Dongju's always known that he's not in any ordinary idol group. They're a bunch of oddballs, but he likes that about them. They take Dongju for who he is, and they've always looked after him, ever since he joined them. He feels at home with them. They have their quirks, but it's all manageable, harmless stuff, and Dongju has plenty of those himself, so who is he to judge? 

There's usually an explanation behind all of their strange behaviours somewhere. It's not unusual for people who do so much physical activity to eat a lot, Dongju reasons to himself, as he watches the others scarf down an unholy amount of food. Keonhee probably has two stomachs, after all, and it's only expected for someone who works out as much as Geonhak does to need a lot of calories. Dongju knows that he's just as capable of eating two meals in one sitting after a long day of practice as the rest of them. When there's good food around — especially good meat — he finds it hard to hold back, particularly when he's exhausted from hours of dancing.

"You look so tired," Hwanwoong says to him once they're back home after a big meal, patting his stomach as they lie on Dongju's bed.

"I am," Dongju groans. "I don't think I'll ever have as much stamina as you guys."

The others have been training for much longer than Dongju has, so he knows it makes sense that they have more stamina to sustain them through the long choreography sessions, but sometimes he's not sure that he'll ever catch up.

"You'll get used to it," Hwanwoong assures him anyway, his own eyes beginning to droop with sleep.

His endurance might not be stellar, but Dongju does have the napping down pat. They're all used to stealing as many minutes of sleep as they can fit into their busy schedule, and he thinks he's almost as good as Hwanwoong at being able to fall asleep less than five minutes after flopping down onto anything soft.

But he feels a need to push himself harder, further, so he can catch up to the others. The rest of them look always so natural on stage, confident and charming and beautiful. Dongju wants that too, wants to be able to stand up there with them and feel like it's exactly where he belongs. It feels so urgent sometimes, beating hard against his chest, an ambition that sometimes feels to big for his body to handle.

He's stayed late one night and everyone else has already gone back to the dorm, so it's just Dongju left in the studio, trying and failing to force his body to get the routine right. But he's dead tired and frustrated with himself, kicking his heels against the floor whenever he missteps, and he's losing the will to go on. Maybe Hwanwoong will help him drill the steps tomorrow, but for now he figures he might as well go home and get some rest instead.

The air is chilly outside and Dongju's body is starting to cool down, so he keeps a brisk pace on the way back. Even though the moon is full and beautiful in the sky, he's too tired to stop to admire it, too ready to collapse into his bed as soon as he gets home.

As he finally approaches the dorm, he can hear the thudding of feet and laughter coming from inside, and while he fishes his keys out of his bag he absently wonders why five people who begged exhaustion and went home early are running around like maniacs in the middle of the night, but he assumes that Seoho and Geonhak are just play fighting again like always.

He pushes the door open, and the scene in front of him is one that'll stay burned into his mind probably forever.

Keonhee is standing nearby, staring at Dongju in the doorway, his eyes and mouth wide open, and for some reason he's shirtless. The couch is lying on its side in the middle of the living room. There's stuff strewn all over the floor, which isn't that uncommon a sight, except that there are more clothes than usual. It looks like the shirts and pants that Seoho and Geonhak had been wearing earlier, but the two of them are nowhere to be seen.

Instead, there are two large animals standing on either stand of the overturned couch, growling at each other. One of them is pure black, bigger than the rusty red wolf on the other side of the couch, but both of them are far too large to be mistaken for dogs.

They're wolves, Dongju realises, and he can't help but let out a little shriek as both of them turn to look at him. He feels his knees go weak and buckle underneath him, and his vision blurs.

* * *

He wakes to the familiar sound of bickering. As Dongju opens his eyes, he realises that he's in his own bed and that the bickering is coming from outside, voices raising and hushing in waves as an argument goes on in the hallway. Youngjo and Keonhee are sitting on the edge of Dongju's bed, having their own whispered conversation, but they both turn around when he sits up.

"You passed out," Youngjo says. He looks relieved. "Are you feeling okay?"

Dongju feels light-headed, but nothing hurts, so he hopes that means someone caught him before he hit the floor. Hopefully it hadn't been one of those big wolves. His head spins again as that particular memory hits him. "What's going on?"

Keonhee exchanges a look with Youngjo. "Are you ready?"

"For what?" Dongju demands.

"We have something to tell you," Keonhee says, and launches into an explanation that sounds very well put together, except it's wasted on Dongju — he mostly stops listening after he hears the words _we're_ and _werewolves_ put together, and just stares open-mouthed at the two of them. Once Keonhee has stopped talking nonsense, he waits expectantly for Dongju to say something. The silence lasts so long that Youngjo starts fidgeting, until eventually Dongju speaks.

"Hyung," he says slowly. "Are you fucking serious?"

Keonhee huffs. "Well, you saw it. What did you expect me to say?"

"I don't know, that I was hallucinating?"

"If you'd been hallucinating we wouldn't have known you were talking about wolves," Youngjo says, kindly, but it's not really helping.

"I think I have a concussion," Dongju says. He's grasping at straws, trying to press down the hysteria that he can feel rising in his chest. There's still a chance that this is some elaborate joke, that they're just trying to mess with him, he thinks wildly, and then the door opens.

Youngjo squeezes his hand reassuringly as Seoho and Geonhak file into the room like children who have just been scolded, Hwanwoong following behind them.

"Sorry for the mess you walked in on earlier," Seoho tells Dongju, and he's smiling, but he looks nervous. "Don't worry though, Keonhee caught you when you fell."

Keonhee says, "See, no concussion either."

"Did you tell him?" Hwanwoong asks, plopping down onto one of the other beds.

Trying and failing to breathe deeply and evenly, Dongju grits out, "Are you actually serious about this? Like, no hidden cameras? This isn't just the worst prank Seoho has ever come up with?"

"I'm not saying it's not Seoho's fault," Hwanwoong says, "but yeah, we're serious. It's the real thing, Dongju-ya."

Dongju swallows hard. "All right. Then show me."

The others trade glances between each other, their looks saying something that Dongju doesn't understand. Geonhak, who's just been standing there, quiet and reticent til now, finally speaks up. "Ah…that's not really…maybe another time—"

"I want to see it now," Dongju insists. He swings his legs over the edge of the bed, Keonhee and Youngjo shuffle over to make room for him to sit between them. "Please show me."

More glances, and then Hwanwoong shrugs and stands up. "I haven't been able to stretch my legs yet anyway."

He strips, quickly and efficiently, nothing Dongju hasn't seen a hundred times before, but he's a little taken aback, not sure what to expect. He clutches Youngjo's hand. Hwanwoong kneels down on the floor, shoots Dongju a quick grin, and then it begins.

The shift starts slowly and then speeds up, gaining momentum as it progresses. Dongju's transfixed; he can't look away even as he winces at how Hwanwoong's bones seem to lengthen and then snap as new joints form, bending into a distinctly non-human shape. A thick coat of light-coloured fur sprouts all over his body, and he _grows_ , bigger than should be possible. It's uncomfortable, watching his canines lengthen and sharpen and seeing claws appear out of paws, a tail extend out of his spine. It's fascinating. When it's over, Hwanwoong shakes, licks his maw with a long, pink tongue, and Dongju reaches out without thinking.

Hwanwoong pads forward and presses his snout into Dongju's hand, letting him run his hands over his face and into the fur on his neck.

Dongju looks up at the others; everyone's watching him, holding their breath. "Does it hurt? When you transform?"

The tension in the room shatters as Seoho lets out what can only be described as a giggle, and just like that, everyone relaxes a little. Dongju's distracted momentarily from his anxiety, still preoccupied with running his fingers through Hwanwoong's fur, who's pressing closer to him and letting out low, pleased, rumbling growls.

"It's not really painful," Geonhak reassures Dongju. "We're all used to it. It feels more like a muscle stretch."

Hwanwoong turns and lays his head in Keonhee's lap, looking up at him with big brown eyes.

"You want some company?" Keonhee laughs. Tail wagging, Hwanwoong looks between him and Youngjo eagerly. "All right. You coming too, hyung?"

"If it's okay with Dongju." Youngjo nudges him gently.

"Hm?" Dongju realises that he's just been lost in staring at Hwanwoong. He'd seen it happen right in front of his eyes, but he feels like his brain hasn't caught up to the absurdity of the situation, cogs spinning endlessly, uselessly. But there's no doubt that this is Hwanwoong in front of him, nipping at tugging at his sleeve now. Even if he hadn't seen the transformation, he thinks he'd know it was him.

Youngjo smiles at him. "We don't have to, if you don't want."

"All of you?" Dongju asks, glancing over at where Seoho and Geonhak are leaning against the wall, still lined up like kids waiting for detention.

"Nope!" Keonhee says cheerfully. "That's their punishment for being careless tonight."

"It wasn't my fault," Geonhak protests, but Keonhee just shushes him, grabs Youngjo's hand, and walks out of the room.

Seoho pats Geonhak on the shoulder, comforting and mocking. "We'll just have to be Dongju's educators, then."

Hwanwoong is nudging Dongju pretty insistently, so he stands up and the three of the follow Hwanwoong back into the living room, where the furniture is all in its proper upright position again and the mess has been cleaned up. Seoho and Geonhak push the couch against the wall. After doing a quick lap of the room, Hwanwoong returns to Dongju's side, rubbing up against his legs and poking his wet nose into Dongju's waist, until two more wolves walk into the room.

It's clear to Dongju right away which one is which. Keonhee enters first, with long, loping strides, making a beeline for Geonhak and barrelling into him. Somehow, Geonhak remains standing, and leans down to put his arms around Keonhee's neck. Youngjo follows him in more leisurely, nuzzling against all of them before the three wolves peel off, moving into the now open area of the room.

Dongju collapses into a nearby armchair, rubbing his hands over his face. The wolves are still there when he peeks through his fingers, chasing each other around as best they can in the limited space, and he's forced to admit to himself that this is happening.

Seoho plops down on the floor next to the armchair, leaning against it. "So. Questions, queries?"

"Too many," Dongju says. He starts playing with Seoho's hair, who doesn't complain. It's a familiar habit, a small comfort to Dongju. "Do you guys have…special powers?"

"Like turning into a wolf?" Geonhak snorts, but he also wraps his arms around Dongju's shoulders from behind, so Dongju decides not to hit him.

"We do have some wolf-like qualities, even in human form," Seoho explains. "Heightened sense of hearing, and smell. We're a bit tougher and stronger than your average human, but nothing too out there."

Dongju thinks that's pretty out there, but there's probably no point in saying anything about it, so instead he asks, "How do you communicate when you're like that?"

"Like wolves do," Geonhak says. "Body language. Instinct. Vocalisation."

Right on cue, Keonhee lets out a yip in their direction.

"No mind reading or anything," Seoho adds.

The three wolves have calmed down a little, no longer chasing each other around the room. Instead, they've moved on to rolling around on the floor together, pawing and nipping at each other.

Dongju's always thought of wolves as dangerous; huge, scary animals that could tear your throat out at any moment. And he can see their claws, and their big teeth when they open their mouths to whine at each other, but to Dongju they seem like puppies. They're big, for sure, but there's no real aggression in their bodies when they tussle, just the same playful energy that they so often have with each other.

He'd been scared earlier, when he'd first seen them when he walked in, but knowing know that it had been Geonhak and Seoho — the same people who always wrestle with each other, who tease Dongju and look after him and buy him things when he whines, his _hyungs_ — it makes it impossible for him to be scared of them at all.

Dongju just watches Keonhee and Youngjo and Hwanwoong for a while, as they slow down and become lazy, sleepy, in a big pile of fur that he thinks looks warm and comfortable. They really do look like overgrown puppies, tired out from playing too hard. He doesn't realise that his own eyes are beginning to droop, how exhausted he is, until Geonhak nudges him gently.

"Let's go to bed," Geonhak murmurs. Dongju puts his arms out, wanting to be carried.

For once, Geonhak doesn't argue, just picks him up. Dongju doesn't even make it back it to the room that he shares with Keonhee and Hwanwoong. The last thing he sees before he falls asleep in Geonhak's arms is Seoho joining the pile of wolves on the floor of the living room, sinking into them and sighing in content.

It looks nice, Dongju thinks.

* * *

It's almost midday when Dongju wakes up, bleary and slow. He doesn't know what time he slept the night before, but it must have been well into the early hours of the morning, so it's fortunate that they have the day off.

He drags himself out of bed and into clothes; Hwanwoong and Keonhee are still fast asleep, probably tired from all the running around they did, so Dongju leaves them be and heads out into the living room. The furniture's been moved again, all of it back in its usual place. Everything is nice and tidy, no traces of the activity that had gone on the night before.

Youngjo's lounging on the couch with his headphones on, but he sits up and pulls them off when he sees Dongju come in.

"Hey, you're finally up. Keonhee and Hwanwoong still asleep?"

"Yeah," Dongju says, glancing around the room. "Where's everyone else?"

"Seoho and Geonhak went out," Youngjo says. "Want to go get lunch with me?"

They go to a cafe, one of the ones that Dongju and Hwanwoong frequent to read and talk and drink coffee, and order some comfort food. It's nice, and it's normal, and Dongju can't stop thinking about the werewolf thing even as they chat about schedules and the weather and if they're all going to eat dinner together later.

"How are you feeling about everything?" Youngjo says, over coffee after the food is gone. "You're taking it pretty well, but I know it must have been a big shock."

Dongju laughs. "Just a bit. How do people normally take it?"

"I don't know," Youngjo says. "People don't usually find out."

"So I wasn't supposed to find out either?" That stings. He's accepted that the wolf thing is real, but now he's over that hurdle he's beginning to realise that there's more to it than that. "Were you ever going to tell me?"

Shifting uncomfortable in his chair, Youngjo says, "We wanted to."

"What does that mean?" The hurt is growing inside Dongju, new confusion along with it. "I don't understand. How did this even happen? Did you guys know each other before all this?"

"No, we didn't, you know how we met. That's all true." Youngjo sighs. "I'm sorry this is all coming out like this. We need to talk properly. Can we go for a walk?"

While Youngjo pays at the counter, Dongju waits outside and breathes in the fresh air, trying to calm down. They go to a park nearby and find a secluded patch of grass underneath a tree, and sit down while Youngjo tries to explain.

"Our CEO, he comes from a wolf family. Hwanwoong and Seoho both coming into the company were a coincidence, but after he realised they were wolves too, he thought it would be good for us if the group could become a pack. But nobody's here because they are — or aren't — a wolf. You know that if someone didn't fit with us, they wouldn't be here." Youngjo smiles sheepishly. "We weren't supposed to let you find out yet."

"So why did you?"

"You're part of our pack," Youngjo says. "Simple as that."

It doesn't feel simple. To Dongju, it feels like a mess of emotion swirling inside his stomach and rising up into his throat, threatening to burst out, overwhelming him. Youngjo slings an arm around his shoulder and pulls Dongju against him.

"You really mean that?"

"I think we're all meant for each other." It's the kind of sappy, unbelievably sincere thing that Youngjo says sometimes, usually met with a chorus of groans and whistles. But it's only the two of them right now, so Dongju just leans into it, leans into Youngjo's side and his warmth and lets himself believe it.

After a long, quiet moment, Dongju says, "Our CEO was really on the nose with all the moon stuff, huh," and Youngjo doesn't stop laughing for five whole minutes.

They stay like that for a while, in this tiny, peaceful corner of the world. It's nice here, somewhere Dongju thinks he can feel okay about everything, but he still has one thing he really needs to know.

"How do people become werewolves?"

"It's genetic," Youngjo tells him, gentle with his words. "You have to be born a wolf."

"Right," Dongju says.

The days pass, and they mostly look the same as they always have. They go to classes and practice, they eat together and bicker and squabble and hang out, they go home together, and every now and then Dongju will ask them a question about werewolves. It's surreal how normal everything is otherwise, because he thought maybe this would change everything. But this is how they've always been, just _this_ , so maybe the one who has really changed is him.

He notices things now, things he'd never really questioned before anyway, but just make a little more sense — like the eating, the stamina. And the affection.

They've always been an affectionate bunch. Youngjo is usually trying to drape himself over someone at any given time, anyone who will let him. Keonhee is cuddly and likes to be held; Hwanwoong is all casual touches, all the time. Geonhak is needier than he looks, and Seoho, who's the least overtly affectionate of them all, has become much more comfortable with physical touch over the time that Dongju has known him.

But there are times when even Seoho will pull him close and hold him, especially now. Dongju really notices that something feels different the first time he visits Dongmyeong at his dorm after the wolf secret comes out. When he gets back to his own dorm, Seoho is basically waiting by the door, and Dongju jumps when he sees him right after opening it.

Seoho doesn't even say hello, just grabs Dongju into a hug and presses his face into his neck. It doesn't last too long; Seoho lets go after just a few seconds.

Dongju raises an eyebrow and says, "Hello to you too," but Seoho just grins at him and walks away.

He doesn't think too much of it until a few days later, putting it down to Seoho's usual silliness. When he gets back from catching up with some friends from high school one evening, some of the others are hanging out in the living room. Geonhak's in the kitchen and when Dongju walks in with the intention of getting a glass of water, Geonhak crowds him against the wall without a word and does the same thing, just rubbing his face on Dongju's neck, but it goes on for a lot longer this time.

Taken by surprise, Dongju just giggles, ticklish. When Geonhak appears to be done, he makes a satisfied noise in his throat, and just like Seoho, walks away without any explanation.

After he's skulled down an entire glass of water, feeling a little too warm from Geonhak's body, Dongju flops down on the couch where Keonhee and Hwanwoong are watching TV. Hwanwoong pulls him in close and honest to god _sniffs_ him, and Dongju can't take it any longer.

"What is with all the smelling?" He demands, sitting up, but when Hwanwoong tries to pull him back into his arms right away, Dongju lets him. Keonhee laughs, and Hwanwoong just hums into his neck, pleased.

"It's a scent thing," Keonhee explains. "When you're out with other people you start smelling like them."

"You should smell like us," Hwanwoong murmurs.

Dongju snorts. "So you're marking your territory?"

"Yeah," Hwanwoong says, unrepentant. "People should know you're ours."

"I'm only hanging out with humans, you know."

Keonhee smiles, patting Dongju on the leg. "It's just instinct for us."

He scoffs a little, but as he settles back against Hwanwoong's chest, Dongju thinks he might not hate the idea of being marked by them, even if nobody else knows it's happening.

After that, the scenting only gets more overt and obvious, like they feel as though they don't have to hide it anymore. Whenever he's been out without them, hugged his brother or a friend, once he returns to the dorm whoever's at home will pile on top of him, sometimes all five of them at once. They spoil and torture him in equal measure; as their youngest he's always been an easy target for them. They like to hold him down and tickle his ribs and ruffle his hair and nuzzle against him until he can't be bothered protesting anymore. He never puts up a real fight though — he likes the attention, the touching, even though he doesn't always understand why they do it, when he already belongs to them.

* * *

Dongju always feels a heady mix of excitement and anxiety when the full moon approaches. He wants to learn, likes to watch them, but he still holds this lingering apprehension inside of him, a feeling of always being the odd one out. He never feels quite brave enough to voice that particular fear out loud, but somehow they know anyway.

The others are gentle with him, in a lot of ways — they take it slow. The next few full moons are like the first, two of them staying behind in human form to keep Dongju company while the other three transform.

"You can go too, if you want," Dongju tells them, even as his chest tightens.

"It's okay," Hwanwoong says, "Next time, Dongju-ya."

Instead, they join in playing with the three wolves, pulling Dongju along with them. Even in human form, though they look small and fragile next to the wolves, Keonhee and Hwanwoong still manage to hold their ground and wrestle with them. They have to be more careful with Dongju, unable to roughhouse in the full-bodied way they do with each other. Sometimes it feels like Dongju has before, during practice, like he's falling behind. But sometimes when he's laughing uncontrollably, pinned down by a paw on his chest and Seoho licking his face, it's not so bad.

He's never been afraid of them, not since the very first time he saw Seoho and Geonhak. It's not surprising when they explain to him how the wolf instincts are there but that they're in control of them. They've all lived in human society since they were born, learning when to give into the instinct and when to hold back. None of them are aggressive people to begin with, so that side never really emerges. The enthusiastic scenting is usually the closest they get to being territorial, and even that feels more affection than dangerously possessive, but when Dongju injures himself during practice he learns how fiercely protective of their pack they can be.

When he twists his ankle he can't help letting out a tiny yelp of pain, which is probably inaudible to human ears under the music, but the sound has the rest of the group on alert immediately. Once the choreographer checks it and it's clear he can't really put weight on his ankle, Geonhak swoops him up in his arms and carries him to the first aid room.

"You were made to carry people," Dongju tells him, and Geonhak just grunts.

The nurse says it doesn't look too serious, and Dongju's a little frustrated with himself for slipping, but all he can do for now is ice it and rest. Geonhak needs to go to practice — one small injury shouldn't stop the rest of them from continuing — but Geonhak's face is thunderous with what Dongju knows is concern, but would probably look like fury to most other people, even though there's nobody to blame. Accidents just happen sometimes.

Geonhak stubbornly isn't moving, even once Dongju is set up comfortably on the bed, and Dongju crosses his arms.

"I'm okay, seriously," he tells Geonhak, who scrunches up his face in response. "You can go back."

Dongju prides himself on being just as stubborn as him, so eventually Geonhak just shoves his face into Dongju's neck for a brief moment when the nurse's back is turned, and finally leaves.

"He seems worried," the nurse comments mildly, and Dongju just smiles.

Later, when the swelling's gone down a bit, the nurse gives him a brace for his ankle and helps him back to the practice room. He slips in while they're in the middle of the routine, and there's no real opportunity to speak to Dongju, so they stay focused and keep going while he watches. But as soon as the session is over, they're all crowding around him and fussing.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he tells them, embarrassed at how over the top they're being in front of the choreographer, who just laughs and tells Dongju to look after himself and rest up.

A staff member drives him back to the dorm with Hwanwoong, who helps support him as he limps inside. He sits on the couch with his leg propped up, and while usually after practice everyone would split up to shower or get food or do whatever they do in their downtime, everyone keeps hovering around him.

"We just want to help," Youngjo says, when Dongju tries to shoo them away.

"Yeah, this is a limited time offer," Seoho says. "We won't be this nice to you every day."

That's both true and absolutely a lie, because ever since he found out about their werewolf secret they've been spoiling him more than ever, but Dongju eventually gives in. He won't admit it out loud, but he likes being doted on like this.

"I can't believe this had to happen now," Dongju groans. The timing isn't great, and he just hopes that he can recover and catch up before they have to perform. "The full moon's tomorrow too."

"We don't have to," Youngjo tells him. "We can just swap around again."

It's supposed to be the first time they're all going to transform for the full moon. Dongju's been anticipating it nervously. The presence of a couple of them in human form, able to explain things and talk to him, has been comforting to him, but he's determined. He wants to feel brave enough to do it.

"We've gotta do it sometime," Dongju says. "You guys still want to, right?"

"It's been a while," Keonhee admits. "But it won't hurt us or anything if we wait."

They've told him before that they don't _have_ to transform. It's not quite like the stories and the movies, where the shift is forced, uncontrollable — it's not a curse. But the moon still has a pull on them. It's when the urge is strongest, and when it feels the most satisfying.

"It's like an itch," Seoho had told him once. "You can't quite get at it any other way, but the longest you try to ignore it the harder it is. But when you finally do, it feels so _good_."

"Let's do it," Dongju says. "I'll be okay."

There's another long day of practice before their free night finally rolls around, but everyone is energised and excited at the end of it. The living room gets shifted around again to make sure there's space for all of them in the middle, but with the comfortable armchair on the perimeter of the open area for Dongju to sit in. He makes sure they actually put their clothes away first, instead of just dumping them on the floor right before they transform, where they're bound to get mixed up and cause some squabbles later in the night.

The door's locked and the windows and blinds are shut, only the smallest slivers of moonlight shining into the room, and a dim lamp on beside the armchair so that Dongju can see. The sight in front of him — five guys standing around their living room stark naked — is an odd one for sure, but as soon as they being to shift, it somehow looks right.

Hwanwoong's the first, eager to begin the night properly. He stretches, and it starts as he relaxes out of it, rippling into a different tension in his body. The others follow only moments later, a waterfalling canon of change. Dongju sees it differently than he did the first time. He's seen it again several times since, and he doesn't flinch at the way their bones warp and bend into a different structure anymore, but it's not just that. Watching them all together feels like that's the way it's meant to be; changing together as a pack.

It's beautiful, he thinks.

The excitement and energy in the air is palpable; for a moment Geonhak lifts his head and Dongju thinks he might be about to howl, but he holds himself back. It would be far too suspicious for a wolf's howl to be heard in an apartment complex in the middle of Seoul, but maybe one day Dongju will be able to hear it, out in a forest somewhere with them all.

He curls up his chair and watches them dance around each other playfully, bowing and darting circles around each other. They look happy. Just as a trickle of loneliness is starting to creep up on Dongju, Keonhee runs up to him and shoves his snout into Dongju's stomach.

"Hi," he murmurs, unable to stop himself from smiling, rubbing Keonhee's face before he pulls away to do a lap around the room.

The others all follow suit, greeting him one by one before peeling off again to lope around the room. Hwanwoong puts his two front paws up on the arms of the chair, towering over Dongju obnoxiously, so he tries to bite down on Hwanwoong's ear, but he's too high up for him to reach. Hwanwoong shakes his head vigorously, licks the side of Dongju's face, and joins the others again.

The frenzied energy around them is more intense than Dongju's seen before, but it also fades faster. It doesn't take too much running around — and Dongju wonders what the neighbours think, if they assume that it's just rowdy boys messing around, like he had on the night of that first full moon — before they're dropping off and lounging on the floor instead. Seoho trots over to Dongju's chair and tugs on the hem of his shirt until he stands up. He's wary of his bad ankle, but before he knows it Geonhak's at his side, letting him lean on him as they walk over to where the others are lying in a lazy pile.

The two of them help get him down onto the floor with the others. They all shift around and encircle him, creating a nest of warm, soft bodies for Dongju to lie in. He's leaning back against Youngjo, and turns to look at his big dark eyes, reaches out to run his fingers along his snout.

"You're really pretty," Dongju whispers, and hears the pleased rumble in Youngjo's chest. He rolls his eyes as Hwanwoong paws at his arm insistently, but carefully enough not to catch Dongju's skin with his claws. "Yeah, yeah. You're all pretty."

It's easy to fall asleep like this, warm and safe and lulled by the rhythmic rise and fall of Youngjo's chest against his back, soft fur underneath his fingers.

When he wakes in the morning he's still surrounded by a mess of sleeping bodies, but they're all human now, bare skin around him on all sides. He stretches very carefully, trying not to wake anyone, and feels someone drop a kiss on the top of his head.

"You awake?" Youngjo whispers.

Dongju nods. It looks like the others are still asleep. He decides not to disturb them yet, decides to enjoy the peace and quiet and warmth a little longer. Keonhee is snoring softly, his head in Dongju's lap. Hwanwoong's shifting in his sleep a bit, making sweet little noises like he does when he's on the brink of waking but not conscious yet.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence bar for the sounds of sleep, stroking Dongju's hair, Youngjo says quietly, "We all love you, you know."

Dongju doesn't really know what that means, doesn't know exactly what to read into a _we love you_ out of the blue.

But he also thinks that he does, with Hwanwoong nuzzling sleepily into his neck, the skin of Keonhee's shoulder soft underneath his fingers. With Geonhak and Seoho's quiet, comforting presence, and Youngjo whispering into his ear, he knows.

He loves them.


End file.
